Disclaimer's the same.

CHAPTER 10

"Are you sure today's the right day? It's a bit windy, and I think it might rain."

Admiral Norrington sighed, walking over to the woman in white. "Azalea, darling, we've postponed for four years…I can't wait much longer."

She sighed. "I know. I'm just nervous." She turned to James, smiling. "I can't believe it's actually happening."

He walked over to her, taking her hands in his. "Neither can I. It's a dream-come-true." As their eyes locked silence filled them. Their lips met, still giving James rubbery knees after all those years.

"Admiral! You mustn't see the bride before the wedding! It's bad luck."

The couple broke apart instantly, cheeks bright red. "Of course, Governor. My apologies." He turned back to his blushing fiancé. "I'll see you soon, my love." Walking past Governor Swann he shut the door, leaving the two alone.

Swann was given his title back after James and Azalea returned. He and Azalea had become considerably close over the years. "It's a joyous day. Admiral Norrington is a good man."

Azalea smiled to herself. "Yes, he is." A wave of guilt passed through her. This day, a day which people thought of as beautiful and blissful, was the day she would betray Hector more than ever before. Marriage; she may as well be stabbing him in the heart.

Weatherby noticed the devastated look on her face. "You're not having second thoughts, are you?"

Azalea covered herself quickly. "Of course not. I just wish my parents could be here. I mean, what's a wedding when a girl can't have her family?"

He took her hands, smiling kindly. "Your family is here."

She smiled sadly and looked down at her feet. "May I have some time alone?"

"Of course. I'll be back soon to escort you to the ceremony."

She nodded and he was off. Helping James prepare, no doubt. Azalea lay back on her bed; the bed she and James shared. She rolled on to her side, sobbing. She couldn't do this…she had to get away.

X+X+X+X+X+X

"Drop the sails!" The dirty crewman rushed to obey the legendary Captain Jack Sparrow's orders. A rain-soaked woman ran up to Jack, a shivering bundle in her arms.

"Jack. They're gaining on us."

"How the hell are they managing to do that?"

"I don't know, but I think you should do something…soon."

"Fine, fine, take the bloody kid, and go to my quarters." He turned to Gibbs. "Check for any leaks, I want this bloody ship at its fastest, and if it's not…I wouldn't want to be you."

"Aye." Gibbs rushed off to his duties.

"And what if it doesn't?"

Jack looked down at his wife, realizing she was still there. "What?"

"What if doesn't go its fastest? What if Barbossa catches up with us?"

"He won't, take Michael and go."

"Fine." She turned around, the tiny boy still in her arms, and made her way to her cabin. As she returned to the cabin she was startled to find Will Turner comforting a very pregnant woman.

"Elizabeth! W-what are you doing here?"

Her jaw dropped as she walked over to her ex-fiancé. "What am I doing here? How did you get on this ship?"

"We came on when you stopped at Tortuga, but Elizabeth you need to help. Lavender's having her baby. Like, right now."

"Bloody hell, now is not the time. Tell it to wait." She scurried into the next room, placing her son into well-padded crib.

"What do you mean? Now is the only time, it's not gonna wait."

"Well we're in a dilemma as well. A dilemma that wouldn't exist if four years ago you knew how to mind your own bloody business."

"You're still on that? Well, let's go back to the source of the problem, shall we? Your tongue in Jack's mouth!"

"Oh, you're one to talk. How many times have you seen Giselle since then? I'm just curious you know."

"Shut up, I'm having a baby!" The loudness of the, until then, quiet girl startled the two into silence. Will was pretty sure he had never seen, or rather heard her raise her voice that much. The two shot each other icy glares before moving on to Lavender. "Thank you," she said quietly, regaining her vastly important composure.

X+X+X+X+X+X

"I really think we should hold back." With the cold wind whipping his face, Bill Turner struggled to stay standing as he confronted his irritable Captain.

"Bootstrap, I've thrown you to the depths once, don't think I'd hesitate to do it again."

"But Captain, they've docked recently, I'm sure they're heavily supplied with artillery. We wouldn't have a chance."

Barbossa turned away from the helm so he could yell at his first-mate directly. "And then what? And then we die, no big waste. We're going to attack them, and we're going to take back what they've stolen." He nodded his head, considering the second option. "Or we die." A cannon boomed and they could hear the splash of water near by. Hector turned back to the helm. "It's about time they stopped running." Taking a swig from his near-empty bottle of rum he turned to his ever-dwindling crew. "Load the cannons!"

"Captain, we're out of ammo. We've been out for a while now."

"Did I ask for your opinion? Load the cannons." The crewman had no choice but to comply with his hopelessly drunk captain. The captain no one thought would last four months let alone four years. Most people said he had gone insane, which is exactly why the crewman didn't want to argue. He loaded the cannons with whatever he could find. "Today…a decision will be made."

Most of his crew couldn't help but laugh. This had to be the 100th time they faced off the Sparrow's crew. Most of the time they lost miserably, Hector still not being able to hold his liquor after all those years—especially the large amounts he consumed. But sometimes they somehow managed to pull ahead and capture the ship. For only a few days of course but they got it. But his crew couldn't criticize his dogged persistence. Some had even suggested that they go after an easier ship first, get some ammo, but he wouldn't listen. He said he didn't want to "waste time." As if he could waste anymore. But wasting time on, as long as it was attacking Jack, didn't faze him anymore. After all, he had nothing to live for after Azalea left. She was probably married now, with dozens of children running at her feet. Norrington didn't deserve her. He deserved to be dead it the mud.

X+X+X+X+X+X

James stood impatiently at the altar, shifting from foot to foot. A huge smile was plastered on his face as he waited for his fiancé to arrive. It disappeared as he saw Governor Swann approach with a look of worry on his face. James swallowed taking slow steps towards him. He leaned in to hear the words he was dreading.

"She's gone." A murmur erupted in the crowd as they watched their Admiral walk frantically, urging back tears. Think raindrops started dropping on their heads as they searched around the property for any sign of her. After hours of looking James was exhausted, both physically and emotionally. He collapsed into the wet dirt before sitting up against the wall. As the rain beat down on his face, tears flowed down his cheeks. How could she do this to him? Four years together and she just leaves? His companions had tried to convince his she got cold feet. "Just wait until tomorrow," they'd say. "She'll be back in bed by 5 am." He refused to believe them. Azalea didn't change her mind that easily. No, not when her mind is made up enough to leave her fiancé humiliated on the altar.

With all hope in his mind lost, James trudged back to his house. He told Emily to keep all company away. He couldn't stand to see, or be seen by anyone. As he walked into his room, he noticed a note left on the dresser. It was folded in half, the only visible words being I'm sorry. James grunted softly, not able to stop the sad laugh that escaped his mouth. He opened the paper and read further.


I can't imagine my apology does much to ease your mind, but it's honest, I can promise that. I hope you don't think your presence was torture all those years, because that's not the case. I just can't be the person you want me to. If we had gotten married, neither of us would have been truly happy, and we would have to live with it. I couldn't do that to you. I know, I sound like I'm trying to be gracious while I'm really being selfish, but I truthfully do want you to be happy.

Azalea

James threw the letter back down on the dresser, dropping his head in his hands. She was gone, really, truly gone.

X+X+X+X+X+X

Azalea tripped for the 100th time over her mud-soaked gown, further dirtying the rest of it. She cursed the wedding dress, but fabric especially for being so damn tough. She had tired countless times to rip it, but the mix of rain, the fabric, and the four-year rest her muscles had been on, made her attempts useless. Now, in the pitch-black night and the pouring rain, Azalea felt helpless in her little dress. She had hidden until it got dark so she wasn't seen by anyone. She crept along to the docks, and waited eagerly for a ship ready to deport. She finally saw her chance with a navy ship. She hesitated at first, but wasn't sure how long it would be until someone else deported at this time of night, and didn't want to risk it. She jumped on quietly and hid down in the storage. When she tucked herself away comfortably she discovered she was amazingly exhausted, and wanted nothing more than to fall asleep…and she did.

Waking up, however, was not nearly half the joy as falling asleep. As she opened her eyes she saw a figure looming above her. She held back the urge to scream, only because she didn't want to draw more attention to herself as it was. As her vision cleared she saw it was a young naval officer staring awkwardly down at her. "Hi," she whispered.

"A-aren't you the Admiral's wife?"

Azalea sighed. "You don't get told much, do you?" He just looked down at her, confused. "Listen, you seem like a nice guy, and I'm sure you're very serious about your job, but you can't tell anyone I'm down here."

"W-why?"

"It's a long story."

He smiled. "I do watch down here, you can tell it to me in sections."

"You do watch? What are you supposed to be looking for down here?"

"I don't know, I think they just ran out of jobs. But will you?"

Azalea raised her eyebrows. "Will I what?"

The boy sat down to be at eye-level with Azalea, even though he was much taller. "Tell me the story?"

She avoided his question again. "How old are you?"

"I'm 18," he said proudly.

Azalea smiled. He seemed like such a child. "OK, I'll make a deal. You don't tell anyone I'm down here, and I'll tell you my whole story. OK?"

"Sure, that sounds great. So, what's your name, anyway?"

"Azalea Smith. What's yours?"

"Alex. Alex Barbossa."

X+X+X+X+X+X

"Barbossa, how many times must I capture your ship before you learn there's no stopping Captain Jack Sparrow?" Hector spit at Jack's feet, unmoved by the large men holding his shoulders mercilessly. "That wasn't very nice. Nor is the fact that you've been trying to catch my ship for…however many years it's been. Now, I have no problem with you, other than that of course. I'd have no problem giving you a job as a chum scrubber if you asked. Especially now that you're out of Lea's life." He took to bold steps toward Hector. "Now I will give you a choice: live or d—" Jack's over-dramatized spiel was interrupted by the sound of a shrieking baby. "What the hell was that?" Jack walked down to his quarters, eyebrows furrowed the entire way. "Elizabeth, Michael hasn't cried like that since he was—" Jacked turned the corner and, to his surprise, found a woman he didn't recognize holding a baby with the man he despised. Along side them was Elizabeth trying not to comment on the adorableness of the baby.

"They snuck on the ship, she hadn't done anything wrong, I had to help her."

"Nothing wrong? She married Turner, that's a pretty big fault. Plus, her baby interrupted my speech."

"You can't blame her for when she has her baby."

"You did."

Elizabeth glared at Will. "I wasn't talking to you, Will." She turned back to Jack. "Just, please let them off somewhere. Don't hurt them."

Jack nodded. The four of them stood quietly for what seemed like an eternity before their silence was interrupted by a splash in the water. Jack ran up to the top deck to see his two biggest crewmen leaning over the edge of the ship. As they heard Jack approach, they turned around. "We're sorry sir, we don't know how this happened."

"He got away?" The two men nodded shamefully. "Bloody hell."

X+X+X+X+X+X

Scores of men were gathered around Admiral Norrington's office. They were preparing plans for Azalea's rescue. Gillette walked to James' desk, where he sat head in hands. "Sir, we've prepared 7 ships to start the search for Miss Smith. Shall we send them off?"

"No." His answer was slurred both from the alcohol he had recently devoured and his hands, which he was trying to speak through.

"No? Why not?"

"She wasn't captured, she left."

"Left you? Why?"

He picked his head up from his hands. "I don't bloody know, why don't you ask her?" His sudden rise in volume got the attention of the whole room. "I want all of you out. There will be no preparations, no rescue attempts, nothing. If she wanted to come back she would. But she's not coming back, is she? It's over, she's gone."

"Sir, how do you know she's dead? For all we know she fell asleep by the beach."

He groaned. "Can you people take anything literally, gone as in she left and she's not going to come back because she doesn't want to. And I don't want you in here, so you shall all be gone." Being the first to take the extremely subtle hint, Gillette bowed, and left the room. The rest of the men did the same, and finally James was alone, in peace.

X+X+X+X+X+X

"Hello Miss Smith." Alex sat down in front of Azalea in the small area they had set up so they could talk comfortably.

"What's this?" she asked, pointing to the tray in his hands.

"I thought you'd be hungry. I was able to grab you a plate of food from the kitchen before I came down here. The chef likes me."

"You haven't told him anything, have you?"

"Of course not. He probably just thinks I wanted to snack at my post. Lots of men do it."

Azalea nodded. "Well, thank you. I haven't eaten in…well, it's been a while, thank you."

Alex nodded proudly. "Anyway, I have exciting news to share. There was a man overboard today."

"That's exciting?"

Alex smiled down at her, as he knew something she didn't. "He said his name is Smith, like you. He said he works for the East India Trading Company. It turns out his ship was attacked and destroyed. They seem to believe his story, but I think he's a pirate. Wouldn't that be some luck? My first mission with the Navy, and we get a pirate."

"Some luck. Alex, this pirate…what does he look like?"

He smiled again, ready to tell his story. "He's a gnarled-looking one, he is. He's got layers and layers of clothes, even in the summer! His hair is awfully tousled, and he's got this great, long beard. It's quite cool looking, actually. It's light brown, even red. Perfectly pirate-like, yes? But you want to know the thing that got me?"

Azalea nodded, desperate for assurance.

"He had this monkey with him. Just this little thing, ya know. But the minute I saw it, I thought 'pirate.'"

Azalea sighed deeply. "Hector."

Ahh!!! OK, who was expecting that? Everyone?